The embodiments herein relate to aircrafts and, more particularly, a gearbox oil cooling assembly disposed on aircrafts.
Gearboxes that generate high levels of heat during operation often require an actively cooled, external heat exchanger to dissipate the heat. Various challenges exist relating to packaging all of the necessary heat dissipating components into a compact envelope while maintaining an efficient and reliable system. A rotary-wing aircraft is an example of an application in which the above-described challenges persist. For example, some rotary-wing aircrafts employ shaft-driven power to impellers through belts, pulleys, and belt-tensioners in order to rotate the impellers. Typically, external oil hoses facilitate transfer of the hot and cooled oil between the gearbox and a heat exchanger. An airflow is facilitated with the impeller and used to cool the heat exchanger, but the heated exhaust air is typically exhausted internally relative to the aircraft and in the vicinity of the gearbox, thereby undesirably leading to operation of the gearbox at an elevated temperature. Furthermore, spinning of the impeller often requires the use of shaft-driven power through belts, pulleys, and belt-tensioners, which increases complexity, thereby leading to potential reliability issues.